ZIMBABWE cricket legend Andy Flower sealed his place in cricket history when he was inducted into the International Cricket Council (ICC) Hall of Fame on Sunday.
The wicketkeeper-batsman is a 63 Tests and 213 One Day Internationals (ODI) veteran in which he excelled in Zimbabwe colours.
A few months before Zimbabwe played its first Test in 1992, the then 24-year-old Flower announced himself on the big stage by scoring an unbeaten 115 on his ODI debut against Sri Lanka in a World Cup match.
The former Zimbabwe captain went on to play in three more World Cups scoring 6 786 ODI runs at an average of 35.34 and making 173 dismissals behind the stumps.
Flower scored 4 794 runs at an average of 51.54 and taking 151 catches and nine stumpings in a Test career spanning over a decade.
Flower in his pomp was one of the best proponents of the reverse sweep when it was not as popular as today.
He had exciting duels with top spinners of his time, like the leading Test wicket-taker of all time, Muttiah Muralitharan.
Flower, considered one of the best players of spin of all time, passed the spin Test in 2000 when he scored 550 runs away against India in a Test series and scored his highest Test score of 232, not out in that series.
In 2001 Flower continued with his run scoring streak by scoring an aggregate of 341 runs in the first Test against South Africa in Harare with scores of 142 and 199 not out.
As that was not enough, he finished the year 2001 as the number one ranked Test batsman in the world.
Flower holds the Zimbabwean records for the most Test career runs, the highest Test batting average, and most ODI career runs.
Most of his individual records for Zimbabwe have not been broken. His 12 centuries and 27 fifties in Test cricket and 55 ODI fifties have not been surpassed by any other Zimbabwean player.
What makes Flower’s career great is that he scored runs against some of the best bowling attacks in an era when teams did not rest players in series against Zimbabwe but fielded their best teams at all times.
Post his playing days, Flower coached England and took them to the summit of Test cricket and transforming them into a formidable unit.
The world cricket governing body, ICC, speaking on Flower’s induction for his contributions to the game between 1996 and 2015, “His grit, determination and will to succeed meant at one point he was ranked number one batsman in the world,” ICC said in a media release.
“Andy carried his country’s batting for long periods, setting the record for the highest Test score by a wicketkeeper with an innings of 232 not out against India at Nagpur in 2000.”
Zimbabwe Cricket (ZC), through their Chairman Tavengwa Mukuhlani congratulated Flower after he was inducted into the ICC Hall of Fame on Sunday, becoming the first Zimbabwean to get the prestigious recognition.
Mukuhlani hailed the 53-year-old as a true legend of the sport.
“ZC would like to congratulate Andy on his induction into the ICC Hall of Fame,” said Mukuhlani.
“This is an absolutely awesome and well-deserved acknowledgement that has immortalised him as one of the world’s greatest cricket players ever.
“We are not only proud of our true legend for the latest honour bestowed upon him, but also grateful to him for the immense contributions that he has made and continues to make to cricket on and off the field.”
Flower was inducted into the ICC Hall of Fame alongside fellow left-hander and wicketkeeper-batsman Sri Lanka legend Kumar Sangakkara and seven other legends of the game, taking the total of Hall Famers to 103.
